Kids Holiday Activities; Let’s Go Outdoors

Time is precious; enjoy it while you can

Thinking of summer holiday activities can be mind-boggling. There is so much pressure in our society to create the perfect ‘Instagram worthy’ summer. In the summer, families spend a fortune on trips to all sorts of attractions; holidays, theme parks, zoos, play centres and trampoline parks.

If you have the funds to be able to spend most of your days enjoying all of these activities you are lucky. Even though I am a teacher, I have to think carefully about planning activities that involve spending as I also need to pay my bills and save up for a new kitchen. For many parents, going far afield on excursions is just not possible. So what do they do?

How do you keep your kids entertained for 6 weeks without day trips?

You get creative. As a teacher, I am conscious that I do not get to spend quality time with my children as much as I would like to. The six week holidays gives me the opportunity to connect and bond with my two kids and make memories that them and I will cherish forever.

It is not all idyllic happy families; in fact, it is quite the opposite; my plans go wrong, my kids get grumpy, they wind each other up and fight. However, this is all part of family life and I just take every moment as it happens, and meditate… a lot.

I wanted to create a post where I collate all the types of things I will be doing over the summer holidays to keep my children’s bodies and brains functioning. As I prefer to limit their screen time; I have to be inventive and have a couple of activities planned every day for them to do. Many of these activities are ones I did with my parents and have also done with my own children.

Today, I will focus on outdoor activities; because fresh air is fundamental to happiness in my opinion, especially when it is sunny. I have also done a post on indoor activities.

Outdoor fun

1) Create an obstacle course using random objects. Get your children to try and beat their own times
2) Get some lining paper and paper plates and use your feet and hands to paint. Pour the poster paint onto the plates and have races up and down the lining paper.
3) Bubble wands or a bubble machine in the garden. My son likes a bubble gun so he can shoot bubbles at his sister.
4) Planting seeds/flowers and watering them.
5) Go for walk in the woods/fields and see how many different plants/trees/animals you can spot.
6) Go to the park
7) Play a sport together like tennis or football.
8) Frisbee or piggy in the middle
9) Fill a bucket with water and a washing up bowl and get them to move the water into the bowl using different things.
10) Going out on bikes, scooters or skateboards.
11) Play tag. If you want to make it interesting you could change the traditional rules.
12) Tails chase. Use lengths of ribbon and tuck them into the back of trousers so it looks like a tail. Each player tries to capture as many tails as the can without having their own stolen.
13) Have a scavenger hunt. You can get them to collect things for each different colour.
14) Glow in the dark bowling
15) Water gun cup racing
16) Pick flowers, make daisy chains or flower crowns.
17) You could make a fairy/gnome garden.
18) Hula hoop and limbo competitions
19) Have a picnic; even if it is just for your teddy bears.
20) Play hide and seek
21) Make a racetrack in your garden. You can use rope, stones or any things you find.
22) Build a stick raft and test it out on some water.
23) Use chalk to draw pictures on the pavement or your patio.
24) Use chalk to draw round targets and get your child to throw a beanbag into them and score points.
25) Hopscotch
26) Fill water guns and spray bottles with paint. Put a large piece of paper up and let them great messy art.
27) Play leapfrog or have a hurdles race
28) Play marbles or tiddlywinks
29) Make washable chalk paint and paint your wooden fence/shed
30) Make a gravel pit for your construction vehicles

What outdoor activities would you recommend for the kids this summer? I would love to have some more ideas in the comments; sharing is caring.